Innovation without Age Limits - you are never to old to innovate

This is a comforting piece from Technology Review.


Ideas are dime a dozen. The value comes from translating ideas into inventions and inventions into successful ventures. To do this, you have to collaborate with others, obtain financing, understand markets, price products, develop distribution channels, and deal with rejection and failure. In other words, you need business and management skills and maturity. These come with education, experience, and age.


Indeed, research by my team revealed that the average and median age of the founders of successful U.S. technology businesses (with real revenues) is 39. We found twice as many successful founders over 50 as under 25, and twice as many over 60 as under 20. So everyone has a shot at success, but age provides a distinct advantage.


It is a shame that all of the 'growth through enterprise' stuff that the EU is funding at the moment is aimed at the under-25s but then it never let facts get in the way of the politics. Dick Stroud